Love or Loathe: Random Inventory

The first thing I think of when I see this dress is a redhead in a brown striped top hat, an eye patch, and tall lace-up boots. There's no getting around it: This dress is steampunk. It even has loops to attach your stockings. Wither the holster for my brass pistol?

Though I am not the sort of person who could pull this off in an everyday setting, I'm sort of just happy it exists. This is part of the joy of online shopping. Suddenly that thing that would never be sold in your town of 35,000 is right in front of you calling your name.

But I didn't find this as a specialty steampunk shop; I found it at Mod Cloth. While they are known for selling quirky, retro clothes, this takes it to a different level. It's not as mainstream as Kohl's, but Mod Cloth is hardly an obscure or specialty store. So my question has less to do with whether or not you like this dress (though do tell!) and more to do with the nature of subcultures and shopping. Is this dress super costumey? Should obviously cosplay clothes be sold mostly in specialty shops? Do you like the idea of fantasy wear blending so far into reality that you could pickup something like this at Penney's, or does that take away from the specialness of this awesome thing you love to do on weekends?